Presser foot



A. SHUMAN PRESSER FOOT Aug. 9, 1960 Filed July 17. 1958 INVENTOR.

ABRAHAM SHUMAN AT RNEY IA 1 u nited States Patent PRESSER FOOT Abraham Shuman, Union Mill #1, Fall River, Mass. Filed July 17, 1958, Ser. No. 149,237

1 Claim. 01. 112-235 My present invention relates to sewing machines and more particularly to a novel construction of a presser foot.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a presser foot which-will substantially reduce the frictional drag on material passing through the sewing machine. I

Another object of the present invention is to provide a presser foot which cooperates with the feed dogs to provide a positive gripping action on the material being fed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a presser foot which will prevent slipping of thematerial when more than one layer of material is being sewed.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a presser foot which is simple in construction and easy and economical to manufacture and assemble.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view, my invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed in the detailed description following in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and more particularly defined in the appended claim.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a presser foot embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the presser foot.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3 -3 on Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a front view of the presser foot.

Fig. 5 is a section similar to Fig. 2 showing the cooperation between the feed dogs and the presser foot.

In sewing a seam on a sewing machine, the two layers of material are laid one over the other and fed under a needle a distance from the edge. It is essential in putting a garment together that the materials be joined perfectly so that at the end of the seam both pieces of material are in register. This is especially true in sewing shoulders, sleeves and collars. However, the sewing machine feed comprises a plate having slotted openings, through which cam operated feed dogs move upwardly and rearwardly to advance the material when the needle is in its upraised position. A presser foot is provided for holding the material down on the plate under the needle. While the bottom of the presser foot is polished and smooth there is a frictional drag between the upper layer of material and the presser foot. As a result, when the feed dogs are moving the lower layer, there is a slipping action between the layers of material. If no correction is made by the operator, at the end of a long seam the two layers of cloth may finish inches apart. The operator must therefore constantly check the register at the end and pull on the upper layer as the material is being sewed to try to have them come out even. Failing this, the operator will force the last few inches of the upper layer under the foot so that the ends will come out even. This will cause wrinkling in the garment.

The presser foot of the present invention is designed to eliminate the drag on the upper layer of material by providing a locking action between the feed dogs and Patented Aug. 9, 1960 ice the presser foot to'move both layers of material together. While the present invention can be applied to anyv type of presser foot, for purposes of illustration it has been shown applied to a pivoted spring-pressed foot. Referring to the drawings, the presser foot comprises a generally rectangular rear portion 10 having forwardly extending integralfeet 11 and 12 turned upwardly at the front end. The top edges of the feet 11 and 12 curve upwardly towards the top of the portion 10 so thatthe feet 11 and 12 are tapered towards the upturned front end. In the illustrated form the feet 11 and 12 are shown of equal length. However, this may be varied to suit different requirements in the conventional manner. The rear portion 10 is cut out at the top edge to form a U-shaped opening 13 longitudinally of the presser foot.

' zontal portion 16 which extends into the U-shaped cut out 13 on the presser foot. A pivot pin 17 extends transversely through the walls ofthe presser foot and through the portion 16 to pivotally mount the presser foot on the yoke 14. Behind the pivot pin 17 the portion 16 isprovided with a vertical opening 18,v and a spring 19 is' positioned in this opening and bears against the upper surface of the presser foot. This allows the presser foot to resiliently ride over scams or other uneven thicknesses of cloth. The yoke 14 and the pivot and spring mounting are of conventional design.

The rear portion of the feet 11 and 12, adjacent the presser foot portion 10, are provided with rectangular openings 20 and 21. A shaft 22 extends transversely through the presser foot as shown in Fig. 3, passing through the openings 20 and 21 and across the space or slot 23 between the feet 11 and 12. This shaft 22 is positioned directly beneath the sewing machine needle. The shaft 22 is therefore provided with a U-shaped slot 24 extending from the front edge to allow for free passage of the needle and thread. Mounted on the shaft 22, in the openings 20 and 21, are a pair of rollers 25 and 26. The rollers 25 and 26 are freely rotatable on the fixed shaft 22. The outer surface of each roller is grooved to form transverse teeth as shown in Figs. 2 and 4. The diameter of the rollers 25 and 26 is such that the teeth will extend up to the bottom of the presser foot as shown in Fig. 2. At the rear central portion of the presser foot portion 10, the lower end is cut out at '27 and a shaft 28 extends through the cut out to provide a mounting for another roller 29 similar to the rollers 25 and 26 and also extending to the bottom of the presser foot as shown in Fig. 2.

Now referring to Fig. 5, the plate 30 is of conventional form provided with slots through which the feed dogs 31 extend to feed the material from right to left in Fig. 5. The teeth on the feed dogs are inclined towards the left and the cam actuated feed dogs rotate so that they move down and to the right when the needle is entering the material and up towards the presser foot and to the left to feed the material when the needle is in raised position. As the two layers of material 32 are pressed between the presser foot and the plate 30 the dogs 31 move upwardly to push their teeth into the lower layer of material. This will push the upper layer of material into the teeth on the rollers 25, 26 and 29 to form a locking action between the two sets of teeth and lock both layers of material together. As the dogs 31 move to the left the rollers will turn to compensate for this movement with the teeth continuing to lock under pressure with the teeth on the dogs 31 so that both layers of the material 32 move together without slipping.

on the rollers 25, 26 and 29 may leave marks which may be objectionable in the finished garment. In such oases the rollers 25 and 29 may be formed without teeth leaving either a smooth or slightly roughened surface and the locking action will be provided by the teeth on the roller 26 only. The rollers 25 and 29 will move to reduce friction between the presser foot and the material. Viewing Fig. 4, the material is normally positioned to the left of the presser foot with the overlapping edges passing under the foot 12. and roller 26. The needle sews a seam which may be positioned any desired distance from the edge. The excess material beyond the stitch forms a pair of flaps on the reverse side of the garment. Therefore, any marks left by the roller 26 on this portion of the material will not be seen and is therefore not objectionable. Such a construction is therefore preferred on silk or similar fine materials.

l have therefore provided a novel presser foot of simple construction designed to virtually eliminate the slippage between the layers of material passing through a sewing machine. The construction is simple and easy and economical to manufacture and assemble. Note that the forward rollers 25 and 26 are positioned on each side of the needle so that the gripping feed action occurs directly at the point of stitching for maximum efliciency. Other advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art.

I claim:

A presser foot for a sewing machine having a vertically reciprocable needle and a cam operated feed dog for feeding the "material beneath the needle, comprising a generally rectangular portion having spaced parallel feet extending integrally forwardly therefrom, each of said feet having a rectangular opening extending vertically therethrough, a shaft extending transversely through said feet through said openings, said shaft having a central U-shaped slot to permit vertical passage of the sewing machine needle through the axis of said shaft, a roller rotatably mounted on said shaft in each of said openings, the rear of said rectangular portion having an opening extending upwardly from the bottom rear corner and partially through said rectangular portion, a shaft extending through said opening, a roller rotatably mounted on said shaft, the roller on the right foot having a toothed surface, said rollers being mounted tangentially to the bottom of the presser foot, and means for mounting said presser foot on a sewing machine, whereby said rollers will be positioned overthe feed dog and the sewing machine needle will reciprocate through said U-shaped slot and between said rollers on said feet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 511,539 Mundlos Dec. 26, 1893 1,069,836 Wieczoreck Aug. 12, 1913 1,850,986 Routtenberg Mar. 22, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS v 5,887 Great Britain of 1908. 

